Games to watch and avoid this week

The folks that run the NBA’s League Pass have made a wise consumer decision in the aftermath of the lockout.

Instead of their normal free week at the start of the season, they are stretching the holiday goodies for an extra week. Time Warner customers in San Antonio will receive the benefit with more free games this week.

Nearly every NBA game can be seen. In the interest of maximizing your viewing pleasure, here are the best games in the NBA this week and others to skip.

Game to savor:

San Antonio at Oklahoma City(6 p.m., Sunday, Fox Sports Southwest) — Matt Bonner had a shooting night for the ages last season in the Spurs’ only trip there last season. We’ll see how the Spurs match up with the fashionable Western Division preseason favorites.

Chicago at Orlando, (7 p.m., Friday, ESPN) — The Bulls looked like NBA title contenders after starting the season with three road victories in four games last week, so the trip to the Magic Kingdom for against Dwight Howard and Co. shouldn’t be intimidating for them.

Dallas at San Antonio (7:30 p.m., Thursday, KENS) — First chance for Spurs Nation to jeer the Mavericks in their fancy new warmups with the NBA title sewn into it.

Miami at Atlanta (7 p.m., Thursday, TNT) — The underrated Hawks catch “The Heatles” twice the week, the second one at home on national television.

Charlotte at Cleveland (7 p.m., Tuesday) — Two of the whiniest owners during the strike were Cleveland’s Dan Gilbert and Charlotte’s Michael Jordan. As a matter of principle, fans should skip this game.

Cleveland at Toronto (6 p.m., Wednesday) — Kyrie Irving gets his first shot at Jose Calderon. And it still doesn’t have much appeal.

New Jersey at Toronto (6 p.m., Friday) — We’ll see if the normally reserved Toronto fans do like everybody else around the league and boo Kris Humphries.

Milwaukee at Los Angeles Clippers (9:30 p.m. Saturday) — Sure, Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul have energized the moribund Clippers franchise. But Milwaukee’s visit isn’t must see TV for anybody but the diehards.

Milwaukee at Phoenix (7 p.m. Sunday) — Steve Nash is a better man than me to keep playing for the crumbling Suns franchise.